Latest / Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast / Doug Eddings' Dress Code, Leo Bernal’s Rise, McGreevy Shining

Transcript

Doug Eddings' Dress Code, Leo Bernal’s Rise, McGreevy Shining · Cardinal Territory: A St. Louis Cardinals Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, and welcome to a special Tilted Hat edition
0:10
Speaker 1: of Cardinal Territory. Jim Hayes alongside Kyle Gibson. There you go, Kyle.
0:15
Speaker 1: Lance Lynn is in Italy. We were hoping he would
0:18
Speaker 1: join this, but he's in Italy, so we're going to
0:21
Speaker 1: give him a break. Kyle, it's our first chance to
0:25
Speaker 1: chat since Doug Eddings unleashed his brand of self-absorbed baseball
0:34
Speaker 1: justice on the Cardinals the other day.
0:37
Speaker 2: Let them have it, Jim. Let them have it, man.
0:40
Speaker 2: I didn't like it. I didn't like it.
0:42
Speaker 1: And I'm not usually a harsh critic of anything, but
0:45
Speaker 1: let's be honest. So the other day, Eddings didn't like
0:53
Speaker 1: the fact that Cardinal rookie making his debut, Hansel Rincon,
0:58
Speaker 1: had tilted his hat. And Eddings said to him, not
1:01
Speaker 1: on my field. He said, not on my field. Then
1:05
Speaker 1: when Ali came out to question what was going on,
1:09
Speaker 1: he got on a pitch clock violation just to add
1:12
Speaker 1: to it. And then later, there's a play at home
1:15
Speaker 1: where the runner was clearly out and he called him
1:19
Speaker 1: safe at home plate. And I do think it was
1:22
Speaker 1: just Doug Eddings kind of getting his retribution. I'm not
1:26
Speaker 1: saying he blew the call intentionally because that would be
1:30
Speaker 1: quite an accusation. But you know Doug Eddings because you've
1:34
Speaker 1: pitched and he's been behind the plate. So first, give
1:38
Speaker 1: me your impressions of him as a home plate umpire.
1:40
Speaker 1: I understand there's some people who think he's a good umpire.
1:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:45
Speaker 2: I mean, I haven't had any run-ins like this. Uh,
1:49
Speaker 2: and I really, um, these type of run-ins are few
1:52
Speaker 2: and far between when it comes to, uh, player and
1:56
Speaker 2: umpire interactions that, you know, end up negatively, um, obviously
2:02
Speaker 2: managers and, and hitting coaches or pitching coaches have more
2:05
Speaker 2: of these types of reactions because they are the ones
2:07
Speaker 2: that are allowed to, you know, really push the limits on,
2:10
Speaker 2: you know, getting thrown out and having those discussions. Um,
2:14
Speaker 2: But I mean, for all that I've heard, and we
2:18
Speaker 2: hear quite a bit of talk of, oh, this guy
2:21
Speaker 2: doesn't have much of a personality. He doesn't talk at
2:23
Speaker 2: home plate. This guy won't stop talking. So I have
2:26
Speaker 2: to almost like put in earplugs when I go back
2:28
Speaker 2: to catch. I've never heard too many bad things about
2:33
Speaker 2: Doug or any for that matter. But, and everybody has
2:38
Speaker 2: a bad day. Okay, let's not act like we all
2:41
Speaker 2: just react perfectly to everything. but that seemed awful weird
2:48
Speaker 2: for that to be where Doug Eddings takes a stand
2:52
Speaker 2: and says, not on my field. First off, I really
2:55
Speaker 2: wish Lance was here and we might have to rehash
2:58
Speaker 2: this when Lance comes back because my word has Lance
3:01
Speaker 2: Lynn had some great conversations with umpires and, and back
3:05
Speaker 2: and forth with umpires. Um, but I don't know that just, it, Very,
3:11
Speaker 2: very weird for Doug Eddings to approach it that way.
3:15
Speaker 2: Very much of a power trip way. You know, when
3:17
Speaker 2: he says this is my field, you know, my game,
3:20
Speaker 2: whatever it is, like just not, not really the way
3:24
Speaker 2: that umpires should be approaching that, you know, Really, I
3:29
Speaker 2: think most players and fans should be able to go
3:31
Speaker 2: through the game and not even see the umpire stand out,
3:36
Speaker 2: not even know that the umpires are necessarily a part
3:41
Speaker 2: of the game or part of the show, that they
3:44
Speaker 2: can kind of blend in and do their thing. And
3:48
Speaker 2: I think the worst part about it and why I'm
3:52
Speaker 2: sure we'll get into the fact the Rockies showed their
3:55
Speaker 2: support as well, but even worse that he kind of
4:00
Speaker 2: makes up a story to pin this on somebody else
4:06
Speaker 2: and not just be his deal that, you know, he's
4:09
Speaker 2: taking credit for it. That really came back to bite him.
4:13
Speaker 2: And I think this is, if there's a situation where
4:16
Speaker 2: MLB can reel this in and show a little bit
4:19
Speaker 2: of support with the players and, and work together here
4:24
Speaker 2: and say, Doug, You messed up. When players mess up,
4:29
Speaker 2: there's a penalty. There needs to be a penalty here
4:32
Speaker 2: in my mind. This is he took it too far
4:34
Speaker 2: and lying to the media and bringing other players into it. Like,
4:39
Speaker 2: that's just I don't know. That can't happen.
4:42
Speaker 1: The whole thing. The whole thing is is where I
4:45
Speaker 1: agree with you. Like this got way out of control
4:49
Speaker 1: and an umpire. Look, I like Joe West. He's a
4:52
Speaker 1: nice guy. He was kind of fun back there. He
4:54
Speaker 1: liked to make it about it. I get a little.
4:56
Speaker 2: Everyone has a little showman.
4:58
Speaker 1: But to me, what struck me is it's Rincon, a
5:01
Speaker 1: young guy making his big league debut, and you bullied him.
5:05
Speaker 1: Because you know what? If it's Lance Lynn on the
5:08
Speaker 1: mound or someone like that, I don't think he says
5:11
Speaker 1: a word if the hat is a little askew.
5:15
Speaker 2: Never. Never. And the fact that he didn't even ask, right? Like,
5:22
Speaker 2: Fernando Rodney... would have told you in Spanish to go
5:28
Speaker 2: jump in a lake, right? Because Fernando Roddy had a
5:33
Speaker 2: story why he wore his hat sideways, right? Like Fernando Roddy,
5:37
Speaker 2: if I remember right, you know, I was teammates with
5:39
Speaker 2: him in Minnesota. If I remember right, that was kind
5:42
Speaker 2: of like a nod to his dad, who is a
5:44
Speaker 2: fisherman and naturally wore his hat sideways to keep the
5:48
Speaker 2: sun off the side of his face when he was
5:51
Speaker 2: doing things on the boat. So, like, I mean, you
5:54
Speaker 2: have no idea why this kid, maybe he just doesn't
5:57
Speaker 2: like his hat straight. Maybe he's got a reason why
6:00
Speaker 2: he's doing it. So, I don't know. It just, it
6:03
Speaker 2: stinks that it was his debut and that's how it
6:06
Speaker 2: ended up, you know, being marred, you know, by that
6:10
Speaker 2: type of interaction. But you're 100%. Nobody ever said anything
6:14
Speaker 2: to hundreds, I mean, probably almost a thousand players that
6:19
Speaker 2: have worn their hat sideways or crooked, we'll say.
6:23
Speaker 1: So my thing is, like, there's an old school and
6:27
Speaker 1: a new school with baseball. I would say you and Lance,
6:30
Speaker 1: totally old school, and I get that. Does anyone even
6:34
Speaker 1: care if you wear your hat off kilter a little bit?
6:38
Speaker 1: Does anyone, like, do the old school players say don't
6:41
Speaker 1: do that? First of all, even if they do, the
6:44
Speaker 1: players police players. That's their right. It's not up to
6:47
Speaker 1: the umpire to say anything, especially when a rookie's making
6:50
Speaker 1: his debut. But do players have a thing with, Young
6:53
Speaker 1: guys wearing their hats crooked?
6:56
Speaker 2: No, and I'm going to be completely honest here. I
7:01
Speaker 2: think I've heard somebody say they wear it a little
7:03
Speaker 2: crooked because they can't necessarily look all the way to
7:06
Speaker 2: first base, so they want the runner to see more
7:09
Speaker 2: of the bill of their hat so it looks like
7:11
Speaker 2: they're checking on them better, and they can't even see
7:13
Speaker 2: the runner. And then I really do believe this. I'm
7:17
Speaker 2: sure this sounds crazy to people, but I really do
7:20
Speaker 2: believe that that there are people that when they put
7:22
Speaker 2: their hat on, they truly believe they're putting it on straight.
7:26
Speaker 2: And they're just not. They're just not. And I don't
7:32
Speaker 2: want to pick on lefties here, but I swear it
7:35
Speaker 2: is a lefty issue. Lefties have trouble putting on hats.
7:40
Speaker 2: I don't know if you've seen this, Jim, if you
7:42
Speaker 2: believe it or not. I just feel like more lefties
7:47
Speaker 2: struggle with putting their hat on straight. And lefties just
7:50
Speaker 2: do things a little different. I apologize to all the
7:52
Speaker 2: left-handed people that are listening. Maybe you know exactly what
7:54
Speaker 2: I'm talking about. But I just feel like most people
7:58
Speaker 2: try to put it on straight, Jim, and it's just
8:01
Speaker 2: not that easy. All right, that sounds bad. Putting a
8:05
Speaker 2: hat on straight is easy. Okay, it is. But some
8:09
Speaker 2: people struggle with it, and that's okay.
8:12
Speaker 1: Okay, but let's not make it an anti-Southpaw thing. And
8:15
Speaker 1: by the way, I mess with mine all the time
8:18
Speaker 1: during the show because sometimes it doesn't sit right. Okay,
8:22
Speaker 1: it's close enough, but it's still a little off center.
8:24
Speaker 1: So I agree with you, but I don't think it's
8:26
Speaker 1: just a Southpaw thing. One thing that you brought up,
8:29
Speaker 1: and I totally notice this too, is the solidarity from players.
8:34
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just the Rockies, just the Cardinals. It
8:37
Speaker 1: was across baseball. There were little demonstrations of people you know,
8:40
Speaker 1: tilting their hat a little bit to show that they
8:43
Speaker 1: were with the player as opposed to the home plate
8:46
Speaker 1: umpire that was overzealous. And I was wondering, big picture, right?
8:51
Speaker 1: You have this labor issue coming up and part of
8:56
Speaker 1: what the players need to do is stand together. Was
8:59
Speaker 1: this a sign or am I going too deep with this?
9:04
Speaker 2: Maybe a little deep, maybe. But I also think It
9:10
Speaker 2: still gives you an idea that, you know, I saw
9:15
Speaker 2: a social media post the other day that gave five
9:19
Speaker 2: examples of players and their thoughts on the salary cap, right?
9:23
Speaker 2: You had one arbitration, third year of arbitration, rookie reliever,
9:29
Speaker 2: starting pitcher. I think it is easy for MLB and
9:34
Speaker 2: the media to try to create a narrative that, ooh,
9:36
Speaker 2: there's a fracture in the players' associations. And man, this
9:40
Speaker 2: is where we're going to get them. You know, I
9:43
Speaker 2: just don't think I don't think that's the case. And
9:46
Speaker 2: I don't think this is like, hey, we're in a
9:50
Speaker 2: CBA year. We need to really show that we that
9:52
Speaker 2: we care. I think this is an organic thing where
9:56
Speaker 2: the players, somebody in that Cardinals locker room said, man,
10:00
Speaker 2: we should all put our hat sideways a little bit
10:02
Speaker 2: today just to be funny because by the way doug
10:04
Speaker 2: eddings goes from home plate to third base right next
10:07
Speaker 2: to the third base dugout that the cardinals were in
10:09
Speaker 2: in colorado right and shoot i mean everybody knows people
10:13
Speaker 2: from every team for the most part it'd be pretty
10:15
Speaker 2: funny if somebody from the rockies And one of the
10:19
Speaker 2: Cardinals players said, hey, by the way, we did not
10:22
Speaker 2: say anything. Hunter Goodman did not say this. Just wanted
10:24
Speaker 2: to let you know. And they said, well, that's funny.
10:27
Speaker 2: We're just going to throw our hats a little bit sideways.
10:28
Speaker 2: And the Rockies said, yeah, that's pretty funny. We're going
10:31
Speaker 2: to do it too. So, yeah, I mean, I don't
10:36
Speaker 2: think this was anything related to the labor discussions. But
10:42
Speaker 2: I also think it is important to know that when
10:46
Speaker 2: it comes down to it, Players have each other's backs,
10:48
Speaker 2: and that union is pretty strong together.
10:52
Speaker 1: Players should have each other's back, especially if you're facing
10:56
Speaker 1: something like a guy making his big league debut getting
11:01
Speaker 1: bullied by the home plate umpire. All right, we're going
11:03
Speaker 1: to take a break here. You're watching Cardinal Territory on
11:06
Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network.
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Speaker 1: So as we sit, Today, the Cardinals five games back
12:13
Speaker 1: in the wild card chase. But some of the young
12:16
Speaker 1: guys are really shiny. One guy, Kyle, that stood out
12:19
Speaker 1: to me, Leo Bernal. Seven games hitting 310. He's got
12:23
Speaker 1: the cannon for the arm. We've seen that already. And
12:26
Speaker 1: last night, last night's game, he made an unbelievable play
12:29
Speaker 1: on a swinging bunt. He kept his mind in the
12:35
Speaker 1: game and realized, I'm going to pick this ball up,
12:37
Speaker 1: step on home the throw to first. I don't know
12:40
Speaker 1: if a lot of young players, I don't know if
12:42
Speaker 1: veterans think that far ahead to be ready for that
12:45
Speaker 1: particular play. But the thing that really strikes me about
12:48
Speaker 1: Bernal is I look at his eyes and he's got
12:52
Speaker 1: that same look that Yachty had when he played. There's
12:57
Speaker 1: this look like, stay out of my way or I'm
13:00
Speaker 1: going to run over you. I just like it. Again,
13:02
Speaker 1: seven games into his big league career, certainly shined at
13:06
Speaker 1: the minor league level, but To me, this guy looks
13:09
Speaker 1: like a big league player. What do you think?
13:14
Speaker 2: I feel like I've seen him smile more than Yachty
13:16
Speaker 2: did in his career already. Yachty on the field was
13:21
Speaker 2: very intense. I really wonder what Yachty would have said. Also,
13:25
Speaker 2: Doug Eddings never would have asked Yachty. to tell the
13:28
Speaker 2: pitcher to adjust his hat, by the way. Let's go
13:30
Speaker 2: ahead and put that out there. Rookie catcher, rookie pitcher,
13:33
Speaker 2: and Doug Eddings took advantage of it because Yachty would
13:36
Speaker 2: have told him to go back behind me and you
13:38
Speaker 2: just worry about calling balls and strikes. Anyways, yeah, I
13:43
Speaker 2: think this is a, it speaks to the wealth of
13:47
Speaker 2: catching prospects and quality catchers that this organization has right now.
13:54
Speaker 2: I'm sure Bernal was on people's radars to come up
13:58
Speaker 2: possibly this year. I think everybody assumed Jimmy Crooks would,
14:02
Speaker 2: and he's probably a part of it as well. I
14:04
Speaker 2: think you really have some decisions here. If you're the Cardinals,
14:08
Speaker 2: what are you going to do at the catcher position?
14:11
Speaker 2: Everybody would love to see Yvonne Herrera still be able
14:14
Speaker 2: to catch some. It just adds a lot of flexibility
14:16
Speaker 2: to the team. if Bernal is this type of gold
14:20
Speaker 2: glove catcher, which obviously it seems like he is, man,
14:26
Speaker 2: that really adds a lot to your team. Really adds
14:30
Speaker 2: a lot. And do I think he's going to hit
14:31
Speaker 2: 310 and have this type of a slash line his
14:34
Speaker 2: whole career? We're looking at a Hall of Famer if
14:36
Speaker 2: he does. But regardless, you bring up that play the
14:41
Speaker 2: other night. And all that is to me, is a
14:46
Speaker 2: player who's very prepared. And it's a player who understands
14:51
Speaker 2: the situation he's in. And just like you said, he's
14:54
Speaker 2: able to slow it down and be in the moment.
14:57
Speaker 2: The only way that happens is instinct. You know, a
15:01
Speaker 2: lot of guys are picking that ball up and they're
15:02
Speaker 2: probably gonna have to turn around and step on home
15:04
Speaker 2: plate and then go back to first. Probably still get
15:07
Speaker 2: the double play. But my word, did that look smooth
15:10
Speaker 2: when he picked it up barehanded and the Giants are
15:13
Speaker 2: basically singing or saying to themselves, wait, did he actually
15:17
Speaker 2: do what we think he just did? Did he keep
15:19
Speaker 2: his foot on the plate? Was the rookie in the
15:22
Speaker 2: moment right there and do that perfect? Really cool to see.
15:27
Speaker 2: Really cool to see. And I was actually when I
15:31
Speaker 2: want to say I was putting one of our kids
15:33
Speaker 2: down for bed, you know, with it being a West
15:35
Speaker 2: Coast game. And I saw on game day the play
15:37
Speaker 2: and I read it and I'm like, What do you mean?
15:41
Speaker 2: What is going on here? It almost looked like they
15:43
Speaker 2: turned to double play and got Devers out at home
15:45
Speaker 2: another way. But wow, what a play by him in
15:50
Speaker 2: a big moment. And I think you're right. It speaks
15:52
Speaker 2: to him being really ready to be in this situation
15:58
Speaker 2: behind the plate. And I think as time goes on,
16:00
Speaker 2: it'll confirm, hopefully, that he's ready offensively. But defensively, he's
16:05
Speaker 2: ready to be up there.
16:07
Speaker 1: I mean, I got to say, I think he was
16:09
Speaker 1: head of the broadcast. I'm watching and I'm like, did
16:11
Speaker 1: he touch home plate? Like it happened so quickly. He
16:15
Speaker 1: was so in the moment and they had to, you
16:17
Speaker 1: had to unpack it to figure out that this guy
16:20
Speaker 1: just made an unbelievable play. At least I did because
16:23
Speaker 1: it was ahead of me.
16:24
Speaker 2: All right.
16:25
Speaker 1: Another thing I want to ask you about is McGreevy.
16:28
Speaker 1: The guy's 26 years old. The bullpen's taxed. The rotation
16:32
Speaker 1: has some injuries it's dealing with. And he's pitched a
16:36
Speaker 1: lot of innings, right? And he pitched 105. They pushed
16:41
Speaker 1: him to 105 because they needed him to. I'm going
16:45
Speaker 1: to tip my cap to that young guy because this
16:48
Speaker 1: guy is like a 26-year-old veteran. It's his first full
16:52
Speaker 1: year starting at the big league level. And he makes
16:55
Speaker 1: the plays. He keeps his team in the game. And
17:00
Speaker 1: at the tail end of the season, right, where, you know,
17:03
Speaker 1: they're limiting innings. They're like, Can he go back out there?
17:07
Speaker 2: He's like, sure.
17:08
Speaker 1: He's that kind of guy. How impressive is what McGreevy
17:12
Speaker 1: has done this season?
17:15
Speaker 2: Very impressive, to say the least. I think he's a
17:19
Speaker 2: guy that people were penciling in to see what we
17:23
Speaker 2: have in this guy, right? In 2024, I played catch
17:28
Speaker 2: with him at least once or twice, just in the
17:31
Speaker 2: pitchers and catchers portion, and You know, it's a guy
17:36
Speaker 2: that as I talk to him more and talk to
17:38
Speaker 2: Dusty and kind of what they were looking for out
17:39
Speaker 2: of him, I feel like he has lived up and
17:42
Speaker 2: made the adjustments and has put himself in a really
17:45
Speaker 2: good position to have the numbers that you see on
17:47
Speaker 2: the screen. And the ERA, that's been inflated by just
17:52
Speaker 2: a couple starts as well, where he gave up some
17:54
Speaker 2: runs and really recently, other than that. you know, he's been,
17:58
Speaker 2: you know, probably closer to a mid three the entire year. Now,
18:01
Speaker 2: harder to do, which I think this makes even more impressive,
18:05
Speaker 2: harder to do with his style of pitching. You know,
18:07
Speaker 2: we see the strikeouts down, you know, we see just
18:10
Speaker 2: over two to one strikeout to walk. Not exactly what
18:13
Speaker 2: you're looking for out of a starting pitcher or a
18:15
Speaker 2: pitcher in general in today's game, but he keeps the
18:18
Speaker 2: ball on the ground. He does a really good job
18:20
Speaker 2: of making pitches when he needs to. And I've always said,
18:23
Speaker 2: If you give me a strikeout to start the inning,
18:25
Speaker 2: nobody on, nobody out, you can have that one. I'd
18:29
Speaker 2: rather take a fly ball. Give me a strikeout with
18:32
Speaker 2: second and third and two outs in a big spot.
18:34
Speaker 2: And if I need four or five of those a
18:36
Speaker 2: game and I get them in the right times, then
18:39
Speaker 2: the strikeouts are going to work. But, man, under a
18:43
Speaker 2: hit in an inning, obviously, like I said, the strikeouts
18:46
Speaker 2: are down. But, man, you brought it up. A really
18:50
Speaker 2: good point where the bullpen needs some length. He's a
18:53
Speaker 2: guy that you can go out there and extend to
18:55
Speaker 2: 105 pitches because he's got the delivery to do it.
18:57
Speaker 2: He's not relying on just overpowering guys. And those type
19:01
Speaker 2: of guys can pitch, you know, just, Hey, all right.
19:04
Speaker 2: My VLO is 94 at the beginning of the game.
19:06
Speaker 2: It's 92. Now I'm going to make an adjustment here
19:09
Speaker 2: and I'm just going to sink this a little bit more.
19:10
Speaker 2: I'm going to cut this a little bit more, you know,
19:12
Speaker 2: and man, those types of adjustments were always fun for
19:16
Speaker 2: me because that's how I had to do it up
19:18
Speaker 2: until my last year. And again, I just, I slowly
19:21
Speaker 2: saw the velo of starters go up, and I slowly
19:24
Speaker 2: saw my velo kind of stay there and then start
19:26
Speaker 2: to go down, and I had to make those adjustments.
19:28
Speaker 2: And really cool to see a guy this age at
19:31
Speaker 2: this point of his career to be able to go
19:33
Speaker 2: ahead and do that and pick up the bullpen the
19:35
Speaker 2: other day and get pushed past 100, you know, right
19:37
Speaker 2: when the team needed it.
19:40
Speaker 1: Five or six different pitches, not a guy who's going
19:43
Speaker 1: to blow you away with a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, but he pitches.
19:48
Speaker 1: I love seeing games.
19:50
Speaker 2: where guys pitch.
19:51
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong. I like watching someone blow away
19:54
Speaker 1: batters one, two, three with 102 miles an hour on
19:58
Speaker 1: the fastball. I like watching McGreevy pitch because that's what
20:02
Speaker 1: he does. He pitches.
20:06
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the guys that do it with the
20:08
Speaker 2: extra velo, It's obviously electric on the radar gun. Everybody
20:13
Speaker 2: talks about it on the broadcast. And there's 102.3 for
20:16
Speaker 2: the final strikeout. That's great, right? That's awesome. I wish
20:19
Speaker 2: I had that. I'm not sitting here acting like I
20:22
Speaker 2: didn't wish I had that, first off. You give me
20:24
Speaker 2: a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, and my word, it was going to
20:27
Speaker 2: be a lot of fun. I can only imagine what
20:30
Speaker 2: those guys get to go through, right? But, man, as
20:34
Speaker 2: a starting pitcher, if I've got to have 100– or
20:38
Speaker 2: I could have a four or five pitch mix, I mean,
20:41
Speaker 2: and I still have good velo, I'm probably taking the
20:43
Speaker 2: four or five pitch mix as a starter. You know,
20:45
Speaker 2: I want to have multiple ways to get guys out.
20:48
Speaker 2: I want to have the ability to pitch the different
20:50
Speaker 2: quadrants of the strike zone. Because I think as we've seen,
20:53
Speaker 2: even though 100 obviously still is getting outs at an
20:56
Speaker 2: insane clip, once it ticks down to 96 to 98,
21:01
Speaker 2: that becomes a whole lot more hittable. And it's now
21:03
Speaker 2: become not the norm, but these guys are able to
21:06
Speaker 2: see it and adjust to it a whole lot better.
21:09
Speaker 2: So hats off to Michael McGreevy. I'm glad some of
21:13
Speaker 2: the adjustments that Dustin and these guys were talking to
21:16
Speaker 2: him about have stuck. And man, he's had a heck
21:19
Speaker 2: of a year and really filled in that middle of
21:22
Speaker 2: the rotation that makes a huge difference for a team
21:25
Speaker 2: in a rebuild and makes a huge difference for a
21:28
Speaker 2: team when they're looking to add guys in free agency
21:30
Speaker 2: or not.
21:31
Speaker 1: Now you talk about electric. I don't know if you
21:34
Speaker 1: could be more electric, especially in your debut than Jerby was.
21:39
Speaker 1: This is a young guy who really just a handful
21:42
Speaker 1: of starts at AAA was really good there. Cardinals needed
21:46
Speaker 1: some help. They needed some, some length out of their bullpen,
21:50
Speaker 1: possibly a start. They bring up Jerby and he doesn't
21:53
Speaker 1: just give him four innings. He gives them four perfect
21:56
Speaker 1: innings and six strikeouts to boot. And this is a
21:59
Speaker 1: guy who, who was not far removed from Tommy John's surgery.
22:04
Speaker 1: So if you're in a rebuild like the Cardinals are
22:07
Speaker 1: and you're looking to see what you have, certainly jerpy
22:11
Speaker 1: jumping into it like that makes you feel pretty good
22:13
Speaker 1: about things.
22:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's also another day where you're like, man, what's–
22:21
Speaker 2: I want to say this gently and polite, right? It's
22:24
Speaker 2: not like teams when they bring up a rookie, you
22:27
Speaker 2: are doubting the kid from the get-go, right? you're bringing
22:30
Speaker 2: a kid up or any type of player up because
22:34
Speaker 2: somebody has told you he is ready for this moment.
22:37
Speaker 2: All right. It's very rarely do you just call somebody
22:40
Speaker 2: up out of pure necessity and say, well, we're just
22:43
Speaker 2: going to throw them into the fire because we just
22:46
Speaker 2: need a guy. Right. You know, normally if you're in
22:49
Speaker 2: that situation, it's a veteran that you're throwing out there
22:53
Speaker 2: and you're saying, listen, man, I'm sorry that we're putting
22:54
Speaker 2: you in this situation, but we need a guy.
22:56
Speaker 1: Right.
22:58
Speaker 2: Somebody had told Ali and the staff, hey, this guy
23:01
Speaker 2: can do this. Now your questions and your doubt comes
23:04
Speaker 2: in like, all right, you don't know how he's going
23:05
Speaker 2: to handle a situation. You don't know how maybe the
23:08
Speaker 2: first inning jitters get to him. Maybe a second time
23:11
Speaker 2: through the lineup gets to him. And he has a
23:14
Speaker 2: little bit of questions after a first couple of hits.
23:18
Speaker 2: Not that day. You know, he went out there and
23:20
Speaker 2: did above and beyond what the team needed to You know,
23:24
Speaker 2: especially getting four innings into the game and keeping it
23:28
Speaker 2: as clean as possible. So hats off to him. And yeah,
23:33
Speaker 2: I think we don't like to necessarily crown guys or
23:36
Speaker 2: don guys as this is who he is.
23:38
Speaker 1: Right.
23:38
Speaker 2: You know, there's going to be kinks and there's going
23:41
Speaker 2: to be bumps in the road. But you love to
23:44
Speaker 2: see a player go out there and have a solid
23:47
Speaker 2: debut like that. Really as good as you can. and
23:51
Speaker 2: just give him kind of a stepping stone for the
23:53
Speaker 2: next one and keep his confidence going. But really awesome
23:57
Speaker 2: and super happy for the guy.
23:59
Speaker 1: What do you remember about your big league debut? Because
24:02
Speaker 1: I always say this. It's different for me, anyway, for
24:05
Speaker 1: a catcher and a pitcher than maybe for a left
24:10
Speaker 1: fielder who might get two balls hit to him or
24:13
Speaker 1: three balls hit to him. What do you remember about
24:15
Speaker 1: your big league debut and what you were battling in
24:18
Speaker 1: terms of either nervousness or stress?
24:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, a few things to me stood out in mine.
24:27
Speaker 2: I've said it before. They gave me like four days
24:29
Speaker 2: notice before I was going to pitch in Minnesota. So
24:32
Speaker 2: I was able to let friends and family know because
24:34
Speaker 2: they actually made the move. It wasn't like keep it secret.
24:37
Speaker 2: They called me up in Miami, and I was active
24:39
Speaker 2: for three days before. So I was able to really
24:41
Speaker 2: give people a heads up. And I didn't know who
24:44
Speaker 2: was going to show up. I knew I left some tickets,
24:46
Speaker 2: but not everybody, right? One of my best friends and–
24:52
Speaker 2: the guy that married Elizabeth and I as the pastor,
24:56
Speaker 2: he and some of his family were sitting front row
24:59
Speaker 2: by the dugout. So when I walked out of the dugout,
25:02
Speaker 2: you know, one of the most familiar faces and one
25:03
Speaker 2: of my best friends was sitting right there. That was awesome.
25:06
Speaker 2: You know, if you want to talk about like being
25:08
Speaker 2: calmed down and being able to put a smile on
25:11
Speaker 2: your face and breathe, that's the perfect thing that could happen.
25:14
Speaker 2: And then as I'm playing catch, you know, one of
25:18
Speaker 2: our seniors from my senior year, our center fielder, Lucas,
25:22
Speaker 2: he is in right field and he yells down at
25:25
Speaker 2: me and that group of friends waves. That was awesome.
25:28
Speaker 2: Those two moments called me down and gave me a
25:31
Speaker 2: lot of, you know, easy breaths to take as I'm
25:34
Speaker 2: warming up. Because for the first pitch, I was like,
25:37
Speaker 2: all right, do I want to throw a four seamer
25:38
Speaker 2: or two seamer here? I want to throw a strike.
25:41
Speaker 2: And Alex Gordon swings first pitch on a down and
25:44
Speaker 2: away pitch. And thankfully I did throw a two seam
25:46
Speaker 2: that ran away from him because he hit it to
25:48
Speaker 2: the wall. in left field and off the bat i'm
25:51
Speaker 2: thinking wow i'm i'm the guy that just gave up
25:53
Speaker 2: a first pitch homer in his debut aren't i and
25:56
Speaker 2: thankfully uh it was caught at the wall and i
25:59
Speaker 2: was able to get through six gave up a couple
26:01
Speaker 2: runs um and rick anderson the pitching coach comes up
26:05
Speaker 2: it's like all right that's enough of that slot for
26:06
Speaker 2: the day you know you're done so uh six innings
26:10
Speaker 2: two runs got the win um but all of that
26:13
Speaker 2: was great but so much family was there and friends
26:16
Speaker 2: to be able to enjoy that with so Yeah, that
26:18
Speaker 2: was probably longer of an answer than you wanted, Jim,
26:20
Speaker 2: but it was a memorable day for sure.
26:23
Speaker 1: I love it. Where's that first win baseball? Is it
26:28
Speaker 1: in your man cave?
26:29
Speaker 2: Where is it right now? Yeah, I don't necessarily have
26:31
Speaker 2: a man cave, but I've got a lot of baseballs
26:35
Speaker 2: and small tokens from a career down on a little,
26:39
Speaker 2: I call it a trophy shelf, but it's really like
26:40
Speaker 2: a display case that was built into the house by
26:42
Speaker 2: the previous owner. And we were like, oh, what are
26:44
Speaker 2: we going to put here? Well, we got a few
26:46
Speaker 2: things from Elizabeth's career as a gymnast and Missouri things.
26:49
Speaker 2: And then, you know, some of my stuff as well.
26:51
Speaker 4: So.
26:52
Speaker 2: Very cool. Very cool. All right. Time for our last break.
26:55
Speaker 1: You're watching Cardinal territory on the foul territory network.
27:01
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28:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Cardinal Territory. Jim Hayes, Kyle Gibson, Lance
28:04
Speaker 1: Lennon enjoying himself in Italy. I wanted to ask you
28:07
Speaker 1: about what the Cardinals have done. It's a rebuild, okay?
28:11
Speaker 1: We've said it early on. It's a rebuild. Guys are
28:14
Speaker 1: going to get a runway, as they like to say,
28:18
Speaker 1: and there's going to be some pieces. Maybe if you
28:21
Speaker 1: were trying to win it all this year, would be
28:24
Speaker 1: different pieces.
28:25
Speaker 2: We get that.
28:26
Speaker 1: It's a rebuild. But the Cardinals have stayed in it
28:30
Speaker 1: five games back of the wild card, and they keep
28:33
Speaker 1: punching back, down 5-0, down 3-0. There's always something in
28:37
Speaker 1: there where they punch back. Don't win them all, because
28:39
Speaker 1: let's face it, They, you know, they're dealing with some
28:42
Speaker 1: things on.
28:43
Speaker 2: The roster right now.
28:44
Speaker 1: But I give the coaching staff a lot of credit
28:46
Speaker 1: because what I've seen is a team that fights, a
28:50
Speaker 1: team that's still where a lot of people thought they
28:52
Speaker 1: could never be this season, and a team where a
28:55
Speaker 1: lot of young guys are getting better, better, and better.
28:59
Speaker 1: What do you think?
29:02
Speaker 2: I think we're looking at a team that was expected
29:04
Speaker 2: to be 20-something games under. 500. And, I mean, they've
29:08
Speaker 2: got a chance to finish– a few games over 500
29:11
Speaker 2: right um you know and i think that would be
29:14
Speaker 2: that'd be a huge win for these young guys and
29:16
Speaker 2: for where the organization is right now uh you know
29:19
Speaker 2: we're looking at the standings here do i think they're
29:22
Speaker 2: probably going to catch the diamondbacks um i mean i
29:24
Speaker 2: think anybody can go on a seven or ten game
29:26
Speaker 2: winning streak uh it just kind of matters you know
29:29
Speaker 2: what those teams above you do i know the diamondbacks
29:31
Speaker 2: and the padres play each other the diamondbacks and the
29:33
Speaker 2: marlins play each other coming up um i'm not going
29:35
Speaker 2: to sit here and say that they can't get on
29:37
Speaker 2: a run here and push back within a few games and,
29:40
Speaker 2: and see what is going to happen at the end.
29:42
Speaker 2: But I think hats off to them for putting themselves
29:45
Speaker 2: in this situation. Hats off to them for being in
29:49
Speaker 2: this race because at five games back, like I said,
29:52
Speaker 2: they're on the edge, but they're in it.
29:55
Speaker 3: Right.
29:55
Speaker 2: They're in meaningful September baseball, which is huge for young players.
30:00
Speaker 2: So definitely, you know, we're it's exciting to see it
30:04
Speaker 2: and really happy for each one of those players in
30:07
Speaker 2: that locker room because you see the outside expectations. You
30:11
Speaker 2: see that you're clearly going through a rebuild and it's
30:13
Speaker 2: easy to lose players. lose your focus and get distracted
30:18
Speaker 2: by certain situations, and they have not one bit. And
30:21
Speaker 2: I think on top of this, they have battled since
30:23
Speaker 2: the trade deadline after trading away their most veteran starter,
30:27
Speaker 2: who had had a really good year, and after trading
30:30
Speaker 2: away JoJo Romero as well, who was a staple in
30:34
Speaker 2: the bullpen. I know he was injured at the time,
30:36
Speaker 2: but that's another big deal. And then trading away probably
30:40
Speaker 2: the most influential person in that locker room in Lars Newpark.
30:42
Speaker 2: So they are doing this by being kind of you
30:47
Speaker 2: know handcuffed a little bit here the last month and
30:50
Speaker 2: a half so um really excited for these guys and
30:53
Speaker 2: and excited for the team next year and and what
30:56
Speaker 2: they're going to build toward and i've heard it a
30:58
Speaker 2: couple times now i really hope that fans are seeing
31:01
Speaker 2: this and they see and can appreciate the fact that
31:05
Speaker 2: the players are going out here and doing this um
31:08
Speaker 2: And I think it's time for, you know, Bush Stadium
31:11
Speaker 2: to kind of be, you know, back to supporting the team.
31:15
Speaker 2: They're playing great baseball. It's not just young guys out there,
31:18
Speaker 2: you know, going through growing pains. This is young guys
31:20
Speaker 2: playing great, clean, defensive, hard-nosed St. Louis Cardinal style baseball.
31:26
Speaker 1: And we're dealing with some injuries all the while, too.
31:29
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes we use cliches in the media because
31:32
Speaker 1: we're not that smart and not that creative. But relentless
31:36
Speaker 1: is a good word to describe this ball club because
31:39
Speaker 1: they are never out of any game. Doesn't mean they're
31:41
Speaker 1: going to win them all, but they're fun to watch. Kyle,
31:44
Speaker 1: good job today. We both, I'm sure, hope that Lance
31:47
Speaker 1: is enjoying his time in Italy, but that's going to
31:50
Speaker 1: do it for this edition of Cardinal Territory. We'll see
31:53
Speaker 1: you next time. Hopefully that episode won't suck.